


The Game of Confidence

by quoththewriter



Category: White Collar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-18
Updated: 2012-02-18
Packaged: 2017-10-31 09:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/342268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quoththewriter/pseuds/quoththewriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He was famous as a forger. As an artist he was a fifteen minute flame. Drabble. Character-study.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Game of Confidence

Peter Burke had done his research and he thought he knew Neal Caffrey pretty damn well.

Neal liked the thrill of the con, liked leaving things to chance and letting the chips fall where they may. He liked the risk, the high stakes; liked knowing there was always the possibility that he could get caught, that one day, he would get caught. But he never really believed it. Like all criminals, Neal thought he was invincible, invulnerable to the law. He knew the risks but he was always confident he would make it out in one piece.

Confidence. That was the name of the game and it was a game Neal knew how to play and play well.

But confidence tricks aside, Peter was beginning to see that Neal believed his talent for forgery was selective. He had asked quite a few times over the years - between the games of cat and mouse and the downtime in between - why Neal had chosen to take his talent and passion for art in a criminal direction. And each time, Peter received the same answer: silence, deflection.

He was beginning to understand that it wasn't all about the risks or the thrill of the game; it was for the recognition.

As a forger and a cheat, Neal was a master. He was Da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo rolled into one. He could reproduce paintings from the great masters without breaking a sweat. But as for original, passion-inspired, from-the-soul works of art, of genuine inspiration? Peter was no expert, but to the art world, Neal Caffrey was passable, even good. But good at best. He had talent, but Neal Caffrey thrived on attention, on praise and recognition.

He was famous as a forger. As an artist he was a fifteen-minute flame. And like most, once he'd had a taste of fame, he was hooked. Neal Caffrey was made for the lifestyle of the rich and the famous.

Neal might not be able to make a difference as a legitimate artist - he would never be the next Michelangelo, or Da Vinci but as a criminal, as a forger, he would shine.

_fin._


End file.
